JEDDAH: Final exams in Saudi public schools ended recently, much to the relief of students and families. It’s not just the pressure of pass or fail, but also the stress that is brought home, according to Mukhtar Muhammad Maulud, the head of the Reconciliation Department in the Makkah General Court, which is responsible for mediating family disputes. End-of-semester exams and Ramadan are the most testing times for family relations, he said; the former due to the pressure on students and their families to ensure good grades, and the latter he attributed to the economic stress of the fasting month on Saudi families who tend to host iftar dinners and end the month by buying gifts for the children, new household items and clothes.
Busted selling ‘witchy’ books
DAMMAM: It’s no secret that Saudi authorities frown heavily on “sorcerers” (aka shysters) who perform “black magic” (aka confidence rackets). According to a report recently published in Al-Shams daily, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice shut down a shop that was selling books about the dark arts to trusted customers. Acting on a tip-off, the religious police sent in an undercover agent posing as a customer seeking books on witchcraft. The shopkeeper was arrested after falling for the sting.
iRomance costs fool SR8,000
DAMAMM: According to a report in Wednesday’s Al-Shams, a man posing as a woman in an online chat room managed to dupe a man out of SR8,000 through an Internet romance. According to the report, the con artist was able to impersonate a woman’s voice in Internet phone calls made to the victim of the con. The impersonator repeatedly sweet-talked his victim out of cash payments over a period of months. Chalk this one up to “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
Arab envoy divorces bearded bride
DUBAI: A diplomat in the United Arab Emirates has divorced his new bride after discovering her full-face veil, or niqab, concealed a beard, local media reported Wednesday. The man, identified only as “an Arab ambassador,” had not seen his new wife’s face until after he had signed a marriage contract, the Dubai daily Gulf News reported. He told a Dubai family court that his mother-in-law had deceived his mother, who helped arrange the union, by showing her pictures of the bride’s sister. “Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best not to reveal her entire face,” a source close to the case told the daily. “He claimed to the Shariah court officials that when he wanted to kiss his wife-to-be, he discovered that she was bearded and crosseyed as well,” the source said. The man then called off the wedding party and lodged a divorce claim alleging that he was tricked by the bride’s family and had suffered emotional and moral damage. The court granted the man’s request for a divorce, but rejected his request that the bride repay him 500,000 dirhams ($136,098), he had spent on gifts to the bride and her family.
